Will DJI Mavic 3 capture 8k 60 fps and 4k 240 fps video?

During CES, chipmaker Ambarella announced its new CV5 processor capable of 8k 60 fps and 4k 240 fps video. Looking back, older DJI drones, such as the Mavic Mini, used Ambarella processors – so let’s take a look to see if the upcoming DJI Mavic 3 will use that as well.

Get to know CV5

Looking at Ambarella’s marketing information on the new chip, there are some pretty impressive features that will take future drones to the next level.

The supported resolutions are the most notable on the list. The CV5 can support video up to 8k 60 fps and 4k 240 fps. This means that Mavic 3 or a future drone may have the ability to fire in 8k, which puts it in line with the EVO 2.

The 240 fps at 4k is also very impressive, allowing slow motion video to be captured at a resolution high enough that it can be cropped and enlarged afterwards. 8K video can also do this to make this CV5 chip perfect for drone companies including DJI to use.

The new chip also supports the H.265 HEVC video codec, HDR and WDR, along with the rest of the standard features we’ve come to expect from high-end drones equipped with cameras. The CV5 chip is produced using a 5nm process, which allows it to have impressive power consumption levels. When recording at 8k 30 fps it uses less than 2 W. In 8k 60 fps video it uses just under 5 W, leaving more than enough battery for the rest of the drone components.

The chip also comes with the company’s CVflow vision engine. This allows for example a drone to be integrated into a neural network, which would probably be used in image recognition scenarios. This would likely improve DJI’s ActiveTrack and automatically detect faces and other objects and improve dynamic obstacle avoidance.

The chip’s target application is described as being for drones, sports cameras, robotic cameras, VR cameras, and autonomous driving systems. So it’s very likely that we’ll see this chip in everything from the latest action camera to a fancy self-driving car.

Will the DJI Mavic 3 have it?

We all know the Mavic 3 should be released ASAP. There have been possible leaks and comments on the upcoming drone. As the Mavic 3 has probably been in development for a while now, DJI has probably finalized something as important as the chip feeding the camera.

On top of that, Christopher Day, vice president of marketing and business development at Ambarella, told CNN that it takes about a year for products to use the new chips. Together these two things make it highly unlikely that we will see this CV5 chip in the Mavic 3.

Since Autel Robotics’ EVO 2 line has 8k and 6k options, there’s no doubt that DJI will want to match or even increase that. DJI doesn’t just use Ambarella chips – it has used the Allwinner H6 in the Mavic Air 2 before, which could mean working with either company to access a new chip ahead of its release.

DJI creates its own chip?

Another thought I had is that DJI could work on its own image processing chip. If you’ve seen recent news, the company is reportedly working on its own autonomous driving technology. While there isn’t a lot of news around the news, DJI will likely be working on its own processor to go along with the technology. This would mean that he doesn’t have to rely on other companies to support the features he wants in his latest products.

Photo: Fatah Muse and Ambarella

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